Copy article

The Times - With the apprenticeship levy failing, productivity low & vacancies high, how should the UK improve vocational training?

ended 01. June 2023

A journalist has been commissioned to write a piece for the Times, about the apprenticeship levy and how the UK should get vocational training back on course. The article is due to run in print and online as part of the CEO Summit supplement (around June 23).

He's hoping to gather written comments for consideration by 10am (UK time) on Tuesday June 2 – the sooner, the better please. 

The below questions hint at the areas he would like to explore in this piece – please consider these, but you don’t need to answer all of them. A short (say 400-word) statement on the subject is also fine.

Please note, however, that submissions that include data, anecdotes and analogies will stand a better chance of inclusion. He's seeking pithy, punchy and practical points. And any comments that go against the grain are appealing, too.

Here are the questions (and feel free to send responses via my email - jonny@newspage.media). Also, It's a lot easier to make any edits if you can answer specific questions rather than lump all Qs answered together.. thanks! :-) 

– How would you assess the state of the UK apprenticeship levy in 2023?

– Please could you share any data around the apprenticeship levy, showing starts and completions over the last few years, and related data?

– I’m looking for (large) companies and individuals for whom the apprenticeship levy has been a success – what have been the tangible benefits (metrics would be good here, too, if possible)? How can the scheme work well? What advice would you give to others?

– If you think the apprenticeship levy has not succeeded, why? Where has it gone wrong? What could have been done better?

– When thinking about how the UK should get vocational training back on course, what would you suggest?

– Why does this matter, especially now (post-Brexit)? What are the easy wins?

– What other schemes might be considered by the government (for example apprenticeship funding might be linked to the UK’s visa policy to train up local talent instead of hire lower-paid foreign workers)?

– What lessons can be learnt from aboard – what countries, if any, have vocational training that is impressive and working in the short and long-term?

– If the situation is, overall, disappointing now, what would good – in terms of vocational training and/or apprenticeships and productivity – look like for the UK by the end of the decade, and what advice would you give about getting there?


– Is there anything else you would like to add on this subject?
 

2 responses from the Newspage community

Copy all

Copy

Sophie Peterson
Director at ORANGE MALONE LTD
My son, a second year Business student, had to find his own placement for his third year but he and a lot of his friends found it really hard to get access to suitable opportunities. In light of the number of vacancies in general plus the productivity issue that the UK has, it seems there's a gap between a formal apprenticeship role and a way of offering students the chance to learn on the job. It would also provide a great pathway for graduates into suitable employment and vice versa.
Copy

Benjamin Woodhouse
Co-owner at Balguard Engineering Ltd
For manufacturing and construction SMEs, apprenticeships are little more than a myth.

We have advertised, been to training colleges, talked to endless recruiters; all a waste of time. Apprenticeship college courses in our sector are simply not fit for purpose. They are long-winded and teaching subject matters that are irrelevent; I am not surprised the kids don't want to go on them. SMEs need young people who can hit the floor running and be ready to be trained in what we need, rather than what a college decides is required with very little input from the business world.

We have had success in recruiting young workers into the business since COVID, but the feedback from them is always that they have no clue themselves how to access apprenticeships

Accessing grant funding is impossibly bureaucratic, we gave up in the end and just fund the professional training ourselves.

Vocational training courses could work if business runs them, give us the funding, we know what we are doing.